Self-service financial transactions, such as banking transactions conducted on automated teller machines (ATMs), typically take place on two types of machines, or self-service terminals (SSTs). The first of these machines follows a traditional “host-driven” approach to self-service transactions, in which the interaction between a user of the SST and the application software in the SST is driven by a transaction host in a financial-transaction network. In the host-driven approach, the SST leads the user through a prescribed series of transaction states, each having a corresponding video display screen that is delivered to the SST by the transaction host. The host-driven approach is a simple and popular approach that is used in the majority of ATMs worldwide. In the ATM industry, an industry standard known as “NDC” (the “states-and-screens” standard) has developed for ATM application software that uses this host-driven protocol.
The second approach to self-service transactions—the “client-driven” approach”—involves the use of standard browser-based application software in the SST to drive interaction with the user. With this approach, the SST application software accesses the transaction host as necessary for authorization and fulfillment of financial transactions conducted by the user, but the SST application software itself, and not the transaction host, drives the SST's operation. The result is that SSTs following the client-driven approach provide more flexibility for SST owners, giving them greater control of both the content presented to the users of the SSTs and the overall flow of self-service transactions taking place on the SSTs. The client-driven approach also allows the SST to access web-based services, such Internet services or customer-relationship management (CRM) applications located on network servers, while a user is engaged with the SST.
Despite all of the advantages of client-driven SSTs, however, owners of host-driven SSTs are reluctant to move wholesale to client-driven systems. Up to now, doing so would require the SST owners to replace all of their host-driven SSTs with client-driven SSTs, incurring tremendous cost along the way.